After his childhood in Odense, Hans Andersen did not
really have a fixed home but spent his life in lodgings or as a guest of others.
His hosts were frequently upper class families who befriended him and were pleased
to have him stay at their country seats. This page shows most of his homes and
the manor houses where he stayed frequently. Browse
the whole page or click a location:

The house in Odense where
Hans Christian Andersen was born on 2. April, 1805, is a corner house in Hans
Jensensstræde, now the Andersen Museum.

Andersens childhood home 1807-1819
in Munkemøllestræde. It was shared by 3 families (12 persons).
"The home where I spent my childhood was one single
little room where almost all the space was taken up by the workshop, the
bed and the settle on which I slept. The walls, however, were covered with
pictures ... and over my father's bench there was a shelf containing
books and songs."

The plaque on the side of the house dates from
1875 and reads:
The dearest childhood memories of the writer Hans Christian Andersen
are connected to this house. Odense Council placed this tablet here
on 2nd April 1875, the writer's 70th birthday. He died on the 4th of August that year.

Frequently stayed here
between lodgings or during shorter stays in town.
"I am now in
Copenhagen and residing for the moment at the Hotel d'Angleterre where I
have a nice room on the ground floor looking out on the square; in the
course of next week I hope to find private accommodation." (Andersen in
a letter to B.S.
Ingemann 25.11.1860)
15th October 1965:
Is moved to two "small, neat rooms" (diary, same day) on the 2nd
floor of the hotel, facing Kongens Nytorv, as he cannot stand the
quietness at the back of the building. For the same reason, he later turns
down an offer from the Henriques family of rooms in their home, as it
turns out that these rooms are also in the back building. He wishes to
have a daily view of the pulsating life of the town.

"Here I visited the writer Ingemann ... -
His life out there seemed to me like a lovely fairy tale; his excellent,
lovable wife treated me as if she were my older sister ... We sailed on
the lake ... Ingemann related in so lively a manner; I loved these people,
and our friendship has grown over the years; since then I have been there
nearly every summer as a welcome guest and felt that there exist people in
whose company one somehow becomes better ... " (The
True Story of My Life)

Near Skælskør, West
Sjælland (Sealand). Owned by the family Castenschiold.

One of three manor
houses close to each other where Andersen was a frequent guest. The others
were Holsteinborg and Basnæs.In the 17th century this
Renaissance house was in possession of the Daa family. In 1859 Andersen
published his story "The Wind Tells about Valdemar Daae and His
Daughters", a tragic tale of how Valdemar Daa lost the property
through his own foolishness . A small masterpiece. English version here
at hca.gilead.org.il.
More pictures and information about
the house

Andersen stayed many times
at Bregentved, both in summer and at Christmas.It was here that Andersen
started writing The Ugly
Duckling, the opening scene
being inspired by the park at Bregentved. The final scene, however, in which the
swan comes into its own, is in the nearby park of Gisselfeld (see next
house below).
The right wing of the
house is as Andersen knew it, but not the left. That was built in 1890 on
18th century foundations. More...

Near Haslev, central
Sjælland. The Danneskiold-Samsøe family were
his hosts.

Gisselfeld and Bregentved
lying close together, Andersen often divided his visits to the area
between them. Regarding the first stay at Gisselfeld, Andersen
tells
Edvard Collin in a letter dated 2nd July 1842:
"I have been given a nice, sunny room on
the ground floor with a beautiful view, service fit for a king. In the
evenings, when the butler [...] has lit my room he even says "most
humbly good night".
More
pictures and information about Gisselfeld

"Count Moltke of Glorup invited me to his
beautiful country seat ... ; I have enjoyed a hospitality, an
attentiveness I can never return" (Andersen in a letter to B.S. Ingemann
31.7.1839).
He returned no less that 24 times in the following 30 years. However, on one occasion in 1850:
Goes to Glorup Estate on 10th June, where Danish
soldiers are billeted. ... Is irritated by both the
countess and the guests at Glorup:
"How ghastly it is to hear the
empty-mindedness of the high-born, talking emphatically and off-handedly
about everything. Ignorance, stupidity! [...] Oh swaggering foolishness,
with crest" (the diary, 20th June).More about Glorup
and Andersen at Svindinge village web-site

June 1850:
Visits Hesselagergård Estate, where he feels ill at ease when he sees the
portraits of the Duke of Augustenborg and the Prince of Nør
"plastered on the walls of the lavatory" (the diary, 22nd June).More
about the house

Visits Holsteinborg in May
1856 for the first time. In a letter to B.S. Ingemann 23.5.1856:
"It is very beautiful here at Holsteinborg ... ; The beach comes up
below the windows and the islands beyond are beautifully tree-covered
..."
In his diary:
"The food was sumptuous, I was placed in a very elegant bedroom and a
cabinet facing the great courtyard, which is rather similar to Kronborg
[castle]".
In a letter to Mrs Ingemann 15.12.1865:
"... outside on the water, in their hundreds, wild swans that sing
morning and evening"
More
about the house

Andersen stayed here a
week in 1862 as guest of count C.A. Lerche.
"... At dinner was a Pastor Knudsen and
wife, he has been a missionary at Tranquebar ... He
hurled a load of Bible language which became thorn bushes between myself
and the love of God; I said that God's nature made me feel more
rejuvenated than a bad sermon. 'But nature does not preach Christianity!'
was his answer. I became nervous, did not feel happy or at ease in the
presence of this presumptuous man! - Yes, the professor can't take
opposition, said Helsted who in all sided with the pastor, the count on
the other hand with me." (Diary 12.7.1862). Helsted was most likely
the composer Edvard Helsted, since the count himself was a composer.
Helsted had written the music to musical plays by Andersen.

In July 1832 Andersen
visits Lykkesholm - where he feels that the young Mrs Lindegaard makes
almost too much fuss over him and is willing to fulfil his every wish.
In the summer 1835 Andersen writes to Edvard
Collin of the young ladies who, all having read about Lara and Flaminia in
The Improvisatore, "crowded around the poet".
In the 1830s it was the favourite manor house of
the young Andersen, but the teasing by the youngest family members caused
the sensitive poet to withdraw to other hospitable estates on Fyn. (Niels
Peter Stilling in "Danmarks slotte
og herregårde").
More
about the house

Andersen visited Baron
Hendrik Stampe and his wife Christine at Nysø for the first time in 1838
and returned several times in the following years.
From a letter to B.S. Ingemann 20th November 1843:
"Concerning life at Nysø, I have so far only been here two days and
yesterday (Sunday the 19th) was Thorvaldsen's birthday, he was especially
lively and had completed a beautiful bas-relief "Architecture and the
Art of Sculpture"; we had many strangers at table and in the evening
a comedy, Heiberg's "Intrigue at School" ... I have a room with
a beautiful view of Præstø Bay! [So it must have been in
the wing to the right in the bottom picture] ... I will stay here
8-10 days and am thinking of getting some work done, at least writing a
fairy tale or a new scene for Ahasverus! ..."
From
a letter to Ingemann 4th May 1856: "Now I am to go from Basnæs next
week to Holsteinborg ... and from there to Nysøe, where I have not stayed
since Thorvaldsen lived there; I am able to meet with the baroness but to
live under her wings, by which one can be so easily struck, I don't really
have the courage, and now that the time comes closer when I must fulfil my
promise, I become more and more frightened, I am really afraid it won't
work out ... " [He escaped and went to Ingemann in Sorø instead]More
pictures and information about Nysø